"The PP and Vox make a hidden modification to the Language Normalization Law"

PalmaThe PP insists that the amendments to the omnibus law to exempt teachers from the Catalan requirement in very hard-to-fill positions do not imply a modification of the Law of Linguistic Normalization. The popular party has defended throughout the legislature that, no matter how much Vox asks for it, they would not touch this text that regulates the use of the Catalan language in the public sphere. However, both the professor of Public and Constitutional Law at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) Sebastià Rubí, and the jurist and president of the Obra Cultural Balear (OCB), Antoni Llabrés, consider that the norm is indeed affected by these changes, which are voted on this Tuesday in Parliament. "It is a hidden modification of the Law of Linguistic Normalization," assures Rubí.

The agreement between the PP and Vox to exempt teachers from presenting the Catalan requirement in very hard-to-fill positions contradicts article 23.2 of the law, which states that "teachers who teach within the scope of the Balearic Islands must possess the oral and written command of the two official languages necessary in each case for the educational and teaching functions they must perform." According to Rubí, even if it is "subtly," Vox's amendment accepted by the PP "modifies" the Normalization Law: "The general rule says that a law can be modified through another even if it is not expressly stated, and this amendment is an exception to article 23.2, which says that teachers who have to teach must know Catalan." Therefore, the norm is "affected" by this amendment "indirectly."

Government sources deny it. They consider that the Normalization Law "is not touched" on paper, that the exception "will have to be articulated" via regulation in the Government Council on a case-by-case basis, and that "it does not imply a new casuistry", because there are already interim teachers who work without having accredited Catalan. However, Rubí considers that no matter how much regulatory development is to be done, it will have "the legal basis" to be able to grant the position without Catalan. Furthermore, he highlights an element that he considers key: the fact that previously teachers without Catalan were interim, which gave a temporality to the exemption, while now they can already be civil servants, although they will have to accredit Catalan to choose a center. "A much broader knowledge of all the regulations affecting the educational field is needed to know the real scope of this subtle modification," he explains.

"The Ministry downplays it"

Toni Llabrés warns that, furthermore, the change could also contravene article 23.4 of the law, which establishes that "the autonomous administration must ensure that the regulation of access for teaching staff to the teaching profession establishes the appropriate system so that all newly admitted teachers possess the linguistic competencies" in the two official languages. "We question that the problem of the lack of teachers cannot continue to be solved through interim appointments and that now these people are to be made permanent officials," he said. "Even if the Ministry downplays it and says that these people will remain pending assignment and will have to take Catalan courses, it is delicate to then want to introduce restrictions by regulatory means so that they cannot have the same status as any other civil servant," he warns. In the same vein, beyond the scope of these specific measures, Llabrés warns that "the problem within the educational sphere also includes teachers who have the requirement and teach in Spanish and, as a consequence, fail to comply with the linguistic projects of the centers, with the passivity of the center and the Ministry of Education."

The PP and Vox have also agreed on a second amendment to exempt students who are passing through the Balearic Islands from being evaluated in Catalan, but the current Law of Linguistic Normalization already provided for exemptions in some cases and established a maximum period of three years of residence in the Islands for the student to be able to benefit from it. In this case, both experts agree that the governing norm is the Law of Normalization, because it specifies the deadlines and, therefore, would not be affected.